EzekielRaiden
Follower of the Way
Then I am pleased to be the first. Allow me to introduce myself. Hi, I'm Ezekiel. I like balanced games, making informed choices, and serious, meaningful roleplay. My favorite games have always been those that feature both a great mechanical structure that I must wrestle with to achieve victory, and a great and cohesive narrative experience that gives me lots to sink my teeth into and moral quandaries to explore and respond to.My experience of players who want all the maths are the same players who don't want any immersive details.
I want to roleplay by and through gaming, and game by and through roleplay. TTRPGs are the only place you can have that experience.
I mean, I have repeatedly said I don't need those numbers--and, of course, by presenting it in this way, you're making the worst elements front and center with absolutely nothing to complement or complete them.But sure, you could add those flourishes to Scenario 1 -- I still think adding the difficulty numbers in plain sight negates some mystery until you actively engage with the creature. The keys in the example:
"You need a 12 to hit it"
"You need a 4 to kill it"
Sure, but that "everything is mysterious" is impossible to preserve. It's the infatuation, the "limerance," of TTRPGing. Like trying to lock a puppy in permanent puppyhood forever, or trying to rigidly preserve the beauty of one's early-twentysomething body for 50+ years. Of course it is "next to impossible" to trick or coerce your players into danger if you are stuck only using such things. Your well necessarily dries up, always.Part of all this is trying to replicate the sense of wonder you felt the first time you played a TTRPG. Everything was mysterious. As you become experienced and understand the rules and have lived through a lot of the typical challenges, some of the shine will inevitably wear off.
...but that's exactly the hard work I keep talking about! Well, one part of that work, anyway. I consider it a joy, not a burden, when I'm DMing. But that doesn't make it not work. I would agree that those specific parts are a more sophisticated approach, with the understanding that sophisticated isn't always necessary or even beneficial (beer and pretzels ain't for me, but it definitely is it for some!) The other side is what I mentioned above WRT mechanics, the "troll that is half-stone and weak to thunder/radiant" or just inventing brand-new monsters, both of which are things any beer-and-pretzels DM can get behind, I should hope.I think this is when the hobby started to become more sophisticated with its adventures and started introducing more things like character arcs, cultural experiences, spiritual growth and moral quandaries. There are only so many variations of traps after all.